Dreams Can Come True!

Since I was a child I was taught I could truly accomplish anything I desired.

All my family in our dream life

I started very young having huge dreams and my heart was determined to follow and accomplish each and everyone. My parents were amazing parents and powerful entrepreneurs. They read to me the stories of great heroes and I knew that I was going to be, like them, fighting the rest of my life to accomplish missions and quests.

As in many stories, in the very gifts that they gave me my parents also created pain and struggle. While they were teaching me these wonderful concepts they were also struggling with many of their own issues which taught me other negative lessons. The contrast was confusing and they did not have the skills to help me distinguish the difference.

I am determined to assist parents to do better for their children.
I am determined to do better for my children.

A mentor taught me once:

Give a man a fish you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to

fish you feed him for a lifetime
Teach a man to teach a man to fish you feed generations.

Mom and Dad with 1 of their 48 grandkids

I am working to teach men and women how to follow their dreams so they can be better examples to their children (they have now or they will have).

I also believe that the deepest parent child relationships are those where the children teach the children as much as the parents teach the children. Part of my dream is to improve the children’s ability to do that

Together with my partners I am creating a series of events for singles who want to build families,  married parents who have children, divorcees and families.

I would love feedback on what should be taught and who should teach it!

If you want to learn more about my processes sign up for my newsletter where you’ll learn more of my vision, our corporate mission and be invited to complimentary webinars.

http://tinyurl.com/CorporateEscape

I Am AVOIDING Black Friday!

Near the beginning of November I was watching one of my favorite shows by DVR when a lighted face caught my attention.

It was a young African-American girl with long flowing waves of hair and a candle in her hand.

Rather then skip it I stopped and watched the 30 second spot.   I loved it so much I watched again.  I loved that time to and called my children to come watch it to.  It was only 30 seconds but profound.  In the commercial the camera pans out to see an entire group of youth.  They are of different races and singing into the night of peace.  Peace for themselves, peace for the world. Peace.

At the last moment possible the announcer comes in and says this was an advertisement for Glade and they wished peace for all of us.  I have played that commercial over and over in my mind during the past few weeks.  It was a profound moment that highlighted what I feel is the greatest strength of the world.  A stark contrast to the weakest parts of our world too.

You see the marketers who designed this ad knew what true relationship marketing is.  They understand that to be a strong company you need to touch the heart.  It is one of the reasons that S.C. Johnson (a cleaning and household products company) leads the nation as one of the strongest oldest companies.  It is uncommon and worth noting because many companies loose their family tradition and strong relationship pull as they change generations.

WHY?

For the same reason I will be avoiding Black Friday Sales today.

The companies start thinking and start marketing from their head.  Pulling to the surface desires of “save a dime” rather than the deep pull of “let’s build a long-lasting relationship”.   These companies are the ones who will always have to grow their marketing budget, rather than shrink it because of all the referrals and repeat customers they get.   They play money and marketing games with their customers to try to reel them in for a big-time sale.  Black Friday, just like any pushy used-car salesman, leaves everyone feeling wasted, disgusted, exhausted.  Their is no joy in the saving of money.  There is no happiness in the fight.  Like the Super Bowl ring, the excitement and thrill will wain.

I attended the Black Friday madness once in my life.  It was during a phase where I had three kids and two stepsons to purchase for.  Our budget was high and our income was mediocre.  I was in the middle of a renovation project and while I knew the house would sell for much more than we were spending, I was all about saving money where ever I could.   I strapped in the minivan with my husband and we hit the street at 5:30.  That year the store opened at 6 am but the line was still all the way across the parking lot when we arrived.  As the doors opened the flood began.  Carried forward through the crowd we were compelled to negotiate “you go for this item and I’ll go for that”.  We met at the front of the store 20 minutes later with our items (he got the last one of his) and at least 15 other items as well.

We left elated!

It was that elation of a lap dance.

A little thrill followed by great remorse.

Why had we spent over our budget?

Yeah they were “deals” but did we truly need them?

This year I will be shopping on other days.

I will choose stores that welcome me with open arms, during early morning days that few want to be there.

I will have a clear plan going in, the items I want, the budget I have.

I will have a small margin for other items, but not allow myself to go over and above the set spending limit.

WHAT JOY!

It’s the peace of knowing I made my own choices.  I stuck to my plan and was not swayed by the marketing ploys of the store set up.  The strength that comes from true security in myself and my decisions.  A knowledge that I know what I need more than some marketing genius.  I may or may not be buying a Glade air freshener this holiday season.  We’ll see what my budget is, but I will be a long-term dedicated full out loyal customer of the S. C. Johnson company and THAT is the best kind of marketing.

Real Referral Marketing — (Low Cost, No Cost Advertising – Part 1)

   Have you ever seen a plant that has been kept covered for several days.  Without sunlight it withers and fades.  You can work to revive it but the effects can be life threatening for the plant.  Even the most skilled worked can not make a dying plant live without the sun.    A business without an effective referral marketing system is the same way.  The entrepreneurs, employees and salespeople may work as hard as possible but without the power of referral marketing the business will die.  While most business owners know this, most do not use, or know how to use it effectively.  If they are not using it effectively it’s as if it was not even there.

    The elements of a REAL Referral Marketing System include four elements: customer service, rewards, talk, and social media.

1) Customer service,  includes great products and service that people want to talk about.   On one of my family’s favorite shows is Restaurant Impossible, Chef Robert Irvine comes into struggling establishments.  Over and over the struggles are based in bad quality of food and bad service.  The way you treat your customers and the having a high quality product is your number one advertising arm.  Use it well and your marketing costs will go down.  Use it poorly and no amount of advertising will suffice to grow your business.  Effectively using customer service, however, means that you regularly invite customers to give you feedback.  You have customer service surveys at easy access points throughout your transactions or you hire a third party (at low cost) to do blind surveys of random clients.

2) A good Reward system encourages your customers to brag about you.  Whether or not your customers actually take you up on getting the reward, knowing that it’s there gets them to open their mouth.  This is the perfect no cost advertising.  Your customers open their mouths over and over, your prospect gets “touched” a few more times, increasing the chances they will come in to take advantage of your services.  They may or may not mentioning the referral, either way you win.  

How you reward your customers will vary depending on your industry, success level, and your customers.  I tell my clients to have more than one type of reward system and rotate them.  You could have a coupon in December, cash bonus in January, points towards free services in February and a contest in March.  

3) Having a rotating reward system gives you more reasons to Talk, telling your customers over and over about the rewards encourages them to talk to their friends or give you referrals.  Having contests is especially effective for a non-pushy no cost advertising program.  Highly successful entrepreneurs like Nick Unsworth and Suzanne Evans use contests over and over to get their customers to talk about their business.  Most entrepreneurs I speak to feel pushy if they personally talk about their referral system over and over.  You can avoid this by having your contest, referral program, etc on each bill or receipt.  The one concern is it could get lost, or ignored.  A real referral system includes having your sales people talk about it often.  “Did you hear about this month’s contest ?”  goes a long way to letting it out to the world.

4) One of the best places to let it out, or get your customers to let it out, is on Social Media.  Social Media is one of the biggest places I see entrepreneurs losing opportunities for no cost advertising.  Posting offers over and over will make people ignore you.  You want to be posting regularly (whether that it 5 times a day or once per day)  but make sure the content is high quality stuff that prospects, clients and the general public will want to be reading.  Post offers less than once per week, and better once per month.  You’ll get noticed more on social media and find greater results.

Which of these four elements of a REAL REFERRAL MARKETING service are you not using?

What one step can you take today to be more effective in using it?

 

Come back next week for a new idea to low-cost and no-cost advertising.

Meet Joe

Joe, I think you’ll like Tom

No Cost Advertising He Wasn’t Using

I am doing market research for a new program I am creating about low-cost and no cost advertising.  While most of the systems I will be teaching are used everyday by large corporations, most entrepreneurs do not think of using them for their small business.  So I was surprised when one gentleman told me “Yes, I have that”.

I congratulated him and then asked, “How often do you utilize it to get leads?”   His response, “I don’t really, but I guess I could.”

This entrepreneur is spending close to $2000 per month on advertising.  For that he generates about 25 cold leads.  He could utilize this system more effectively and be spending $200 or less for just as many warm leads, and for sure generate more business.  (I wasn’t surprised when he quickly got off the phone after I asked)

You may ask “What is the system?”

It is referral marketing.

You may be thinking “I beg my customers for referrals all the time and barely get any”.   If that is true you have a few steps missing in your program.    When done right referral marketing is one of the least expensive and most effective lead generation systems on the planet.

This week go out and ask former clients, friends or contacts for a referral.   Bring your results to next week’s post where you can compare your system with mine.

Awkward Moments That Taught Me To Sell Better

Twice in the past six months I was participating in a live event when the coach on the stage got a look of shock about something I had done.  Both times it was only an instant and both times probably no one else even noticed it because the person on stage just kept speaking.

(there is even a chance I just thought I saw it but it made me think and I learned from them anyway)

The first was when we had been asked to stand to give a rough estimate of our income.  I stood at the “$50,000 or more annual income”.   I had stood without thinking, the look made me think, not only for the moment but for several months since.   I had made the numbers for three months which would equal $50,000 by the end of the year and since my income goal for 2013 was $60,000 I fully expected to make it.  SO after thinking about it I still felt that I was in integrity to have stood at that moment.  It has also pushed me a little to make sure I get there so I will be in integrity still at the end of the year.

The second was when my phone rang and I jumped up out of my seat to leave the event.  Coach on stage had every right to be bothered (whether the look was really of shock at me or not).  I could have and should have not had my phone on and not jumped up and out.   I had created a situation, however, that I felt I HAD to.  I spent the next hour pondering how I could have prevented it.

The biggest lessons, however, have come since spending time after both events pondering the after effect of those actions.

You see at the first event my thought was “she doesn’t trust me” and it didn’t bother me because I had already decided I wasn’t going to receive further coaching from this coach at this time.  (I even spent the next day in the lobby with others who had already made that decision).   The second I felt “guilty” and made sure I was completely and fully present for the next day, even signing up to buy a package I had not planned to purchase….. BAD idea.  You see when you get into a sales situation out of guilt it’s no longer “right” as I speak of in my Three Top Secrets To Earn A Six Figure Income While Working Part-Time.  When sales is no longer right, it’s wrong and will lead to bad results.

If you want to do sales right, and you want to buy right,  step away when you feel “guilt” in anyway.

What I didn’t realize during the moment of the second event is I was probably being guided to NOT be in the room during the sales portion of the meeting, not JUST creating the bad on my own.   (It tends to happen in my life, guidance without me realizing it that is).   In the future I will remove myself from situations where I am feeling sold but I knew before I wasn’t going to buy.

More importantly I will, in the future, make sure my prospective clients are ready to be sold.  I may even have follow up calls to clarify why they bought the services and release them if there is a hint of guilt.  Post-sales calls are just as important as pre-sales calls!

On Contracts and Covenants

A few months ago I had to terminate a contract with another professional.  We had been teaching a class together for an organization.  Among other issues, the direction of the organization had changed and a two month contract had already been dragged out to three.  After I had explained my position the other party commented “I know you, you are not like the others of today’s generation that just ignore contracts.  This has to be a serious reason for you to terminate this contract”.

I have been pondering those words the past few weeks as I have terminated several contracts.

I negotiated my release from two contracts of service providers and also ended giving services to two clients I had been serving.   It was not something I did lightly.  For three of the contracts I had been feeling there had been issues for weeks.  I had decided it was more unethical to stay in the contract then to complete it.  At the beginning of these contracts the terms had not been clearly defined.  As a result there were underlying issues which were not being discussed.  The parties were not complying with spoken and unspoken terms that were either discussed or implied during negotiations.

For the other I had been enjoying everything about the relationship, I thought.  When I was released, however, I began a process that showed me when I made the decision to sign that contract I had not known everything about the company.  After I had signed the contract there were parts of working with that company I sincerely disagreed with.  I let it go because most everything about the service being given was great.  Those elements that were “off” for me, however, had caused me some stress.  I didn’t work through the stress with anyone in the company.  What happened was sad but not to unexpected.  I created a large problem for myself and others.

I can’t thank any member of these companies, clients, or partners enough for releasing me from all five of these contracts.

In my “Top Three Secrets To Earn Six-Figures While Working Part-Time”  I teach to “sell-right”.  Selling right means you make sure the offer is clear at the beginning.  It also means that once the offer is made, accepted and a contract completed you have to continue to sell for the contract to be completed.  If situations arise that make anything about the sell “wrong” then the contract (and the sale) need to be renegotiated and perhaps terminated.

I could go on and on about this and the lessons I’ve learned (real estate, vending and coaching have lots of contracts).

I will make two more comments.   In their book Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box the Arbinger Institute teaches that when you make a choice that is “off” for you and decide to continue on the path anyway things will go badly.  I have lived that and relived that the past few months.   I am being more careful in my choices.  I will still be a “Ready, Fire, Aim”  Entrepreneur.  I will also be a grounded, consistent and clear entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to discuss or renegotiate a contract!

The second is about marriage contracts.

I know of who a man who has been married at least four times.  The first wife had dated the man for over a year and was shocked when he became a different person the day they left the alter.  She saw his “problems” and had the marriage annulled.  The second wife had known him for years but only dated for weeks.  She felt something “off” during the first few months but was married six years before his problems became her demons.   I knew both the first wife and second wife personally.  They told similar stories about the first couple weeks of their marriage.  The first recognized the issues, got out and moved on with “barely a scratch” to a beautiful life.   The second has been trying to heal the issues for the ten plus years since she terminated her marriage.    Learn from this example.  Know as much about the person or company you are getting into a contract with but never ever be afraid to walk away if after the contract is signed it becomes the wrong place for you, or the other party, to be.

Now I want to add.   Divorce, breakups and terminated contracts are not always required.

I prefer they DON’T happen.

In the situation I started this blog with, I had tried from the first couple of weeks of the partnership to resolve the biggest issues that would eventually lead to my early termination.   With the four that I just recently refer to, each is a different story.  On two I was done.  I would not have continued services.  On the other two if I had attempted to talk about the issues before a “problem” rared it’s ugly head I think we could have resolved and continued the contract.  In my heart I truly wish both of those contracts could have been continued but the other party would not allow it because I let it go on so long that the “problem” or “crisis” had come up as they warn of  in Leadership and Self Deception.

(side note, it’s one client and one service provider for each)

During the last four weeks my husband and I have had “moments” as well.

Moments which were extremely tense.

We haven’t had moments this intense in over 5 years so they were even harder for me.  However, I knew that neither of us wanted our marriage to end, no matter how hard these moments were and how wrong the relationship felt in those moments.  I also had seen us here before and I knew from experience if we could work through these things we’d have some great connections and a wonderful relationship AFTER the conflicts.  I also knew, as he had experienced from his last marriage, that if I did everything possible to resolve these issues and he chose to walk out, God would grant me with a new wonderful relationship.  Only when I act from that place can I truly stand for myself and make my needs fully and completely heard.

If you find yourself in a contract which is not “on” do all possible to resolve it as soon as it feels that way.   The faster you speak up, the sooner you can find peace in or out of the contractual relationship. Ask the other party if the issues can be resolved.  Find a mediator to attempt to resolve them if needed.  Never, ever stay in a contract or covenant where you are putting someone else’s needs ahead of your own whether a coach, a spouse or a client!

Tell me your stories:

Have you ever been in a contract you did not terminate when you felt it was “off”?

Have you ever had a contractual relationship resolve after you spoke up?

Have you ever terminated a contract you wished you hadn’t later?

Less Than Three Months To Christmas

  I was waiting for an appointment on September 25th when I over heard the receptionist comment to a customer:  “Yes it’s September 25th,  only three months to Christmas”.

Christmas has always been a special time for me, gifts, charity, family.  It has meant even more the past couple of years because it was on Christmas when I decided “ENOUGH”  I am going to start setting goals I reach.  Since being a mom a had had years where the biggest goals I had were to feed and diaper 3 kids, then years where I had no goals and some where I made huge goals but didn’t come close to them.

So when I heard this comment Tuesday my mind immediately went to “3 months to wrap up my goals for 2013”!

It’s been an exciting year for me, full of work and very little play.   It’s also been full of success and struggle.   May sound like all the other years.  This year has been different though.  Unlike other years, this year when the struggles came (as they do for any entrepreneur)  I met them face on.  I stepped forward into them and processed through them.   In 2013 I have stood forth and said “Time to move on”.

Which is why when I heard “3 months to Christmas”  and I thought of the distance between me and my goals I decided to push forward.   I have tons of work to do and many people to serve in the next 3 months.

The BEST part about that is immediately after that decision ideas and methods for making those goals happen came flooding in.   ALL on that same day.  EXCITING!

What about you?

How are you doing on your 2013 goals?

Are you motivated to take action and make them happen?

What do you need?

Investment vs Debt, Right vs Wrong

Thirteen years ago my husband came home and said “The man I just visited has a vacant house he will sell you.  He said he would even owner finance it for you.”   It’s not everyday that a real estate investor hears that and I was super excited!   The house had been vacant for several years.  There was a whole in the roof in one spot and in the floor just below it.  The wiring was funky, the kitchen out dated and… well it had been vacant.   

I was ready to get it going, however, because he wanted very little for it and I knew the true value of it.  I had no money, however, to fix it up and get it sold.  I also had very little credit available because of other courageous steps I was taking.   I did what I have had to do at other times for business growth, called a couple of people I knew had money.  Between the 2 of them I got loans in the next 3 months totally $34,000 dollars.   I used it all to rehabbed the home.  I just under a year after I purchased it for $110,000 more than I had purchased it so the $34,000 was easily paid off.

That was a good investment.  It was wise to take a loan out to do that.

That was not debt.

Debt is taking on loans and credit card charges for things you do not need or you will not use.

 

I have, at other times, taken out personal loans or business credit lines to pay for things I was not prepared to fully use.  Even though it looked like an investment I ended up feeling like it was a debt because I wasn’t ready.  

How do you know the difference?

I encourage my clients to think before they get into sales conversations for both receiving or giving services.

When you are going into a formal sales conversation with a potential client or customer, get a feel for where they are.  Will they be an ideal client and completely ready to use your services for what they are worth or will they be the type of client who calls you a terrible sales person.  Not because you are one but because you pushed them into something they weren’t ready to use.  

I don’t want to be sold or sell anything that will feel like it was debt.

Investments bring great results.

Investments in coaching will bring the client who is ready for it $100,000 or more in 6 months or less.

However hiring a coach when you are not ready to find the way to pay for it or not ready to do everything they ask you do to is wrong and we’ll feel like debt and obligation.  It is not good for the coach or the client.

When you are looking at any type of expense for your business (advertising, coaching, office furniture, office supplies) ask yourself:

1) Am I getting this because I’m feeling “pushed”?

2) Am I ready to use this for it’s full value?

3) Do I have to get a loan or use a credit card? 

If so will I get a greater return than what I have to spend to borrow that money?

Using these questions can help you to make your expenses valuable investments instead painful debt.

Old Words, New Images

CHARLIE CHAPLIN has always been one of my favorite people in the world!